The top-line take-away: "Everyone is bought in and support is increasing" for biking and walking in cities of all sizes. In city after city, Meyer emphasized, bicycling is supported, accepted and acknowledged, and the opposition is in the minority.

Why? "The idea of quality of life came up in every conversation — quality of life as defined by the millennial generation," he said. Closely tied to economic development, city leaders see better bicycling as a means to attract young talent and the businesses that want to employ them. Bicycling fits into a larger shift to multi-modalism and, in a smaller numbers of cities, the effort to improve health measures.